Alumni News

Painting on paper and canvas are cool, but what about painting on a rock? It may sound a bit strange at first, but this is a fun activity! On April 18^th, we interns in the Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences, Human Development and Family Studies Program, will be painting rocks to decorate the Home Garden Network’s Korner in Miller Hall. The purpose is to paint a rock to leave at the Korner, and paint a rock to take home. These ‘rocks of art’ will be used to decorate the many potted plants laying around, or for display. It will beautify our student spaces at UH, and allow people to see other individuals’ artwork. This event will bring individuals together for a relaxing morning of painting rocks. 

• April 18^th
• Workshops at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. 
• Miller Hall, 3rd floor
• Please RSVP by April 14th to Jamie or Emma.

The Home Garden Network (HGN), part of HDFS, has been busy fixing up a new place to study and lounge in. This area is called the Home Garden Korner. It is located on the third floor of Miller Hall and is open to everyone. We want to brighten up the Home Garden Korner area with some color. What a better way to do it than by painting rocks!

As HGN interns, we’ve decided to do more activities that are engaging and meaningful for the community. Our last event, the Valentine’s Day Ikebana, was a huge success and proved that bringing people together and creating a workshop is incredibly fun.

Rock painting is calming and helps individuals feel relaxed. It is a simple activity that everyone can participate in. It can provide a much-needed ‘escape’ from a difficult and stressful year, and can bring a little bit of happiness to everyone through art. 

We hope this unique event will welcome the community to paint rocks with us, and allow people to leave their mark at the Home Garden Korner in hopes of coming back and seeing their rock still resting where they left it. We want people to be as creative as possible with their designs and encourage students to want to come back, again and again, to the Home Garden Korner.

“I am very proud of our HDFS student interns, Emma and Jamie, for their creativity and contribution to the development of our Home Garden Network program by bringing people from the campus and community at large together to carry out the activities (e.g., Ikebana and rock painting) that help ease all the tensions that most of us have gone through during this pandemic,” says Sothy Eng of HDFS.

So please join us April 18 and ‘Leave a rock, take a rock!’

For his research on Yarrowia lipolytica, a type of yeast commonly found in cheese, Winston Su of the Dept. of Molecular Biosciences and BioEngineering has found an unlikely sponsor: the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), a unit of the federal Department of Energy. “Biotechnology and synthetic biology offer enormous potential to manage and create value from wastes and byproducts that are derived from agriculture, as well as food production, processing, and consumption,” Winston explains. “My research aims to realize this potential by filling in the fundamental knowledge gaps, as well as developing practical process engineering technologies that are necessary for bringing lab research to industrial practice.”

From his approved proposal, JGI will provide RNA-sequencing and analysis of 92 samples from Winston’s lab to help elucidate the regulation of lipid metabolism in the industrially important oleaginous yeast.

Winston’s long-term goal, to develop bioengineered yeast biorefineries from lipid wastes derived from agriculture, involves RNA-sequencing – which is very costly and requires special instruments for next-generation sequencing.

“We are excited to receive this grant from the DOE Joint Genome Institute,” he says, “since RNA-sequencing has become a critical tool in revealing gene expression patterns which is highly useful in understanding cellular processes in living organisms.”

He adds, “I encourage my CTAHR colleagues who are conducting research in functional genomics to take advantage of funding opportunities offered by the JGI.”

View the JGI’s list of approved proposals, including Winston’s “RNA-seq analysis of Yarrowia lipolytica to decipher synthesis of acetyl-CoA derived oleochemicals from waste lipid feedstock for biomanufacturing of biofuels and bioproducts.” For further information, visit the JGI.

The ‘coffee berry borer’ and newly discovered ‘coffee leaf rust’ are two of today’s biggest threats to Hawaiʻi’s commercial agriculture industry. Tune into Zoom on April 16-17, 9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., as CTAHR and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service team up to present the two-day “Coffee Berry Borer and Coffee Leaf Rust Conference 2021.” Farmers, researchers, Extension, and other Ag professionals will share their knowledge on managing the various coffee pest and disease issues. Topics include: CBB and CLR management, CLR monitoring, biological control, cultural practices, nematode management, new technology, and an intro to the Best Beans app.

Register now. For questions, please contact Roseann Leiner.

If you know a seasoned gardener with experience in growing edible crops in containers, please invite them to share their insights to help CTAHR develop gardening recommendations for Hawaiʻi. The Hawaiʻi Edible Crop Container Gardening Survey is open until April 15. Responses can help CTAHR to better support gardening in local communities by providing Hawaiʻi-specific guidance on growing food in containers.

“CTAHR offers a variety of programs for new gardeners using containers, allowing participants to try their hand at horticulture and enjoy home-grown food, even within small spaces,” says Marielle Hampton of the Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences.

“Programs serve beginning gardeners from keiki to kupuna,” she adds, “with initiatives that distribute seedlings or potted plants, teach gardening skills, and deliver nutrition education to SNAP eligible recipients. With Hawaiʻi’s unique growing conditions, feedback from growers around the state can support the development of specialized recommendations to help others find success with container gardening.” 

For questions, please email Kristen Jamieson.

The year was 1950, and a young researcher at the University of Colorado published his first scientific paper, Physaria vitulifera, A Tetraploid Species of Cruciferae (which, incidentally, is still available online). And so began a 70-year span of almost 300 scientific publications authored by Dr. James Brewbaker, who came to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa a few years later, stayed with the college for the next six decades, and was active long after retirement.

“Dr. B,” as he was affectionately called by students and colleagues, passed away on March 15^th.

An incredibly productive and innovative scientist in plant breeding, Dr. Brewbaker won numerous national and international awards for research excellence. He was instrumental in creating the tropical sweet corn seed industry that did not exist when he began, but is now a major world industry. For example, his “Hawaiian Supersweet #9,” is a standard variety in Thailand, the world’s largest producer of canned corn. Many of his varieties can be found across Hawai‘i and internationally, including the well-known “Kahuku Sweet Corn” – all of them noted for resistance to tropical diseases and insects.

He also mentored 52 Masters and Ph.D. students in his capacity at UH, many of whom would go on to leadership roles throughout industry and academia, notes Michael Kantar of the Dept. of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences. “Dr. Brewbaker’s curiosity and enthusiasm for knowledge was infectious and remained so his entire life. He was a highly inspiring and effective instructor – never deterred despite more than 70 years in research.”

But not solely an academic, his driving ambition was to leverage science as a means to alleviate widespread hunger around the globe. His work always centered on the farmer and people, and how advancements should benefit the lives of the community. In fact, his final publication, a 2020 update of his seminal work Agricultural Genetics, was purposely a digital version, and completely free, in order to facilitate its dissemination in developing countries. Today, Dr. Brewbaker is widely credited for improving the diets of people throughout the tropics and subtropics.

While his pioneering work on tropical maize breeding is his most well-known work, he also had a great interest in tree breeding, also with big impacts far beyond our shores. For example, he bred the tropical legume tree Leucaena. This legume fixes nitrogen, improves the soil, and is a rapidly growing species whose wood can be used for fuel, forage, and as a building material. His improvements to Leucaena have bettered the lives of millions in the developing world.

Dr. Brewbaker’s research programs impacted the people at UH, not only with knowledge and education, but also in how they could live their daily lives and spend their careers. Throughout the global plant breeding community, he was known for being generous to his colleagues and students, helping them reach their professional goals with uncommon support.

He also cared deeply about the institutions of science and higher learning, being committed to his alma mater, Cornell U., as well his professional home. Upon retirement, he donated $1M to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa to continue work in plant breeding and global food security.

“Dr. Brewbaker’s influence lives on through the students he trained and who made their own mark in other countries like Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China,” says Nick Comerford, CTAHR Dean. “He will be missed, but his influence is eternal.”&